3 Ways the New Facilities Bill Would Help Charter Schools

Access to appropriate school facilities is a critical barrier to charter school growth and to providing the best and safest educational setting for students. But the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act, introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Michelle Steel of California and last year in the Senate by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Michael Bennet of Colorado, offers new solutions.  

The Equitable Access to School Facilities Act makes significant improvements to the State Facilities Incentive Grant (SFIG) within the Charter Schools Program (CSP) to address charter school facilities challenges more effectively. Currently, SFIG only provides support to states to establish or improve per-pupil facilities aid programs, and with a required state match. In practice, however, its narrow requirements have resulted in a very limited number of states receiving support: only two states in the last 20 years. While per-pupil aid can provide critical facilities support, the reality is that there are other policies that have been successfully implemented around the country—including direct grants to charter schools, subsidized financing mechanisms, or policies that promote charter school access to public buildings—but that are not eligible for support from SFIG. The Equitable Access to School Facilities Act would open up SFIG to support a broader range of facilities solutions so that more charter schools in more states can benefit from these critical funds. 

The bill also increases flexibility by removing the matching requirements in current law, which have prevented a number of states from accessing funds. The program has only run every five years, which makes it difficult to coordinate applying for funds with legislative activity. 

So how will the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act help charter schools access school buildings if enacted? 

1. Expand the types of facilities support programs eligible for funds under SFIG.

Here are a few of the ways this bill could support charter schools with facilities:

• Fund or finance the acquisition and renovation of facilities, including through partnerships with local educational agencies to provide access to public buildings.
• Cover ongoing facilities costs. 
• Support the creation of local education property trusts to plan, develop, and manage facilities for charter schools.
• Create a reserve fund for future acquisition, renovation, or maintenance of charter school facilities.

2. Prioritize funds for states with certain policies in place.

In making grants, priority will be given to states with favorable facilities policies in place. These include: providing charter schools with access to tax-exempt financing, ability to share in bonds or mill levies, offering low or no-cost leasing privileges, land-use policies that treat charter schools fairly, prohibiting deed restrictions that limit charter school access to public buildings, and giving charter schools preference to purchase surplus public buildings. Prioritizing states with favorable policies will help maximize the impact of funds.

3. Incentivize states to adopt more favorable facilities policies.

In its current form, SFIG is designed to support and incentivize per-pupil facilities funding in states however some structural barriers have limited its impact. With the changes proposed by the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act, SFIG will provide financial incentives to states to adopt other facilities policies like the ones described above in order to receive funds. Over time, the passage of the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act would hopefully help lead to more supportive policies around the country.

Now that the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act has been introduced in both the House and Senate, it offers an incredible opportunity for lawmakers to support charter school access to appropriate school facilities. The National Alliance will continue to advocate for these critical changes to be enacted to benefit charter schools and the communities they serve.